atomweaver wrote:

atomweaver wrote in
:

Greetings All,

Trying out the new newsgroup here. I must say the infamy of its
predecessor is what drew me to post.

Thus far, I'm not a ponder, only a (lowly) indoor aquarist, but I'd
be
curious if anyone could comment on their pond-keeping experiences in
cold- weather areas?

I've kept koi & goldfish in Southern Ontario with temperatures down
below -20C and a foot or more of ice on the pond.

There are posters who've kept them in much harsher climes - at least one
regular in Ottawa (who only had an 18" deep pond) and another on the
Canadian prairies.

The key is to make it deeper than your frost line (no, 18" is NOT deeper
than the frost line in Ottawa!), and keep even a small hole open in the ice
(even that isn't necessarily vital if you have really good quality water,
or a flow-through pond). If you get lots of snow covering the pond it
keeps it warmer, but it also will be harder to keep an opening in the ice.

I use a bubbler to keep a hole open - originally I put an airstone on it,
but I kept losing the stone (and never found them on the bottom of the
pond, either!), so I just let the hose bubble freely. A standard 15W
aquarium air-pump can keep a hole open in all but the worst conditions, for
a lot less money than an electric heater.

Really, the worst part about ponding in Northern climates is not seeing any
pond life for half the year...
--
derek